


What She Didn't Say

by Valverbek



Category: Adventure Time
Genre: Adventure Time: Elements, Adventure Time: Ketchup, Angst, F/F, Missing Scene, Sad Ending, Some Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-22
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-14 14:48:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28922367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Valverbek/pseuds/Valverbek
Summary: Marceline made the story fun for BMO, but she left tons of stuff out, stuff that's hard to talk about. The full story of how Marceline tried to save Princess Bubblegum, set before Adventure Time: Elements.
Relationships: Princess Bubblegum/Marceline
Comments: 6
Kudos: 34





	What She Didn't Say

Marceline couldn’t stop thinking about the last time she and Bonnie were in the lab together. Today was giving her some serious deja vu. Bonnie with her lab equipment on, working hard, and Marceline floating around plucking strings on her bass. Crazy how much could happen in one day since only a few hours later they had a nice, messy breakup in the Glass Kingdom. Yeesh. Marceline would be smart to  _ not _ bring that up. She doubted it was even on Bonnie’s mind anyway. If it was, she didn’t say so. Ugh. They were finally speaking again! This was no time to worry about when they broke up and stopped speaking to each other for hundreds of years! Nope. No more depressing stuff. Marceline strung a few new chords on her bass instead, singing the first lyrics that popped in her head.

“You don’t need a pill to be chill! Just have a dill pickle—”

Bonnie giggled and Marceline’s heart swelled a bit. Yeah— _ that _ was better. Maybe they  _ could _ do this, start from scratch and see where it went from there. Bonnie adjusted her safety goggles, smiling at Marceline.

“You know you’re distracting me, right?” she said.

“That’s the point, Peebs!”

Bonnie turned back to her experiment. She poured bubbling blue liquid into a clear dish. Another beaker with green liquid, also bubbling, sat near the edge of her desk. Marceline almost forgot how cute Bonnie looked in her lab coat with all that silly safety stuff on. She didn’t care much for science, but she could get used to Bonnie in this outfit.

“What are you even singing? It makes no sense,” Bonnie said.

Marceline shrugged, flipping around in the air.

“Eh—I’m just playing around.”

She strung the same few chords again with more intensity.

“Just have a dill pickle, go get tickled, and do not  _ kill _ !”

Marceline spun around as fast as she could. Oh—she donked. The neck of her bass smacked into the beaker full of bubbling green liquid on Bonnie’s desk, knocking it over and splashing it everywhere.

“Oh—whoops!”

“Marceline!”

Bonnie jumped out of the way. The green stuff sizzled, burning up everything it touched. It hissed all the way over to a journal near Bonnie and flames shot up as it hit the pages. Marceline hovered near the mess and grimaced. She donked  _ hard. _

“Uh—”

Bonnie groaned. She yanked away her notes which had scorch marks all over them. She held them up and glared at Marceline.

“Dude, seriously! I spent all day on these notes! Now I have to redo half the experiment, measure out the doses again, and—”

Marceline clutched her bass as Bonnie ranted about a bunch of sciencey stuff. Nice. Way to go, Marcy. She didn’t  _ mean _ to knock the beaker over, obviously, but she couldn’t keep screwing up like this, otherwise Bonnie might kick her out of the lab. Then she’d kick her out of the castle too and forget all about Marceline but still keep her shirt for some reason—woof. Marceline really went wild with that one. She couldn’t stop her ears from drooping a little.

“Sorry…”

Marceline must’ve made herself look and sound pretty pathetic because Bonnie just sighed. She set her ruined notes aside. She glanced at Marceline and her face softened.

“It’s not a big deal, I guess. I’ll just transcribe what’s there into a different journal.”

“Am I busted?”

“No—this will only take a couple more hours. How about I finish up here first and we’ll hang out after, okay?”

For a minute, a tiny bit of anxiety invaded Marceline. Bonnie sure made “get the heck out of here, you’re ruining my experiments” sound really nice. Although maybe she didn’t mean it like that. Marceline couldn’t decide.

“Marcy—really. It’s okay,” said Bonnie.

Marceline took another second to compose herself and tried to seem indifferent.

“Well—that was just my way of saying you work too much anyway. Don’t take too long, otherwise the sun will roast me alive.”

Marceline started floating towards the window and almost went back outside before Bonnie grabbed her hand. Marceline’s face flushed as she hovered in midair. Even Bonnie looked a little pinker than usual. They stared at each other for half a second or it could’ve been an hour. It wouldn’t have made a difference. Marceline didn’t understand what she was getting so worked up about. It wasn’t like they  _ haven’t _ touched at all. Bonnie slept on her shoulder only a couple months ago.  _ Marceline _ woke up in Bonnie’s  _ lap _ a couple of weeks after! She loved that they could do stuff like that again without it being weird. But at the same time, Marceline hated all the feeling around. Half the time she wanted to grab and kiss Bonnie or sleep the day away in her arms. Did Bonnie want to do those things? She looked deep in thought too.

“Don’t get roasted alive, Marcy. A couple hours and I’ll be done. Promise!” said Bonnie.

And that was all she said.

“Cool!” said Marceline.

The air still felt a little too heavy. So, on her way out the window, Marceline played one last tune on her bass.

“I gotta go peeeee!”

Bonnie laughed so hard she snorted.

“Get out of here, you goof.”

Marceline grinned. She zoomed down from the castle and settled on a bench nearby. She tried to think up a new song to pass the time, but none of the lyrics were coming together. Stupid pants—crazy aunts—nah. Those all sucked. Marceline could  _ not _ get anything to rhyme. She almost gave up and left to scare Starchy in the graveyard until she saw something fast and blue shoot inside the castle.

“Huh—what the—?”

Marceline hovered back up near Bonnie’s lab. She peered through the window. Someone else was inside with Bonnie: a blue woman with sunglasses and even bluer hair. Marceline couldn’t help hissing to herself. Patience. Bonnie mentioned her before. She was the tranch that kidnapped her and the other princesses  _ and _ froze Finn and Jake. What the heck was she up to now? She held a briefcase while blabbing on and on about ingredients. Marceline shifted her ears and listened in.

“Come ooon, Princess! You’re a scientist! You’d think  _ you _ of all people would wanna see your full potential as a candy elemental! I can do it. Just say the word!”

Bonnie didn’t sound convinced. She rolled her eyes.

“I can shoot jellybeans out of my hands. Big whoop. Now will you get out of here? I’m trying to finish this experiment.”

“I’m not talking about sad little jellybean streams!”

Patience slapped a hand on Bonnie’s shoulder, earning her a death glare from the princess. Patience ignored the look and wiggled the briefcase between them.

“It’ll be like old times! You, me, and all those other guys—we’ll  _ rule _ this place! You don’t know what you’re  _ missing _ ! It’s your birthright! Your evolutionary  _ potential _ ! You’ll have these people eating out of the palms of your hands!”

Patience laughed. She hopped away from Bonnie and spread her hands.

“Like  _ literally _ ! They’ll  _ literally _ be eating out of the palms of your hands. It won’t just be jellybeans! Look—I got together these ingredients and—”

Bonnie gritted her teeth and pounded both fists on her desk.

“How many times do I have to tell you? I’m  _ not _ interested! Now get out of here before I call the Gumball Guardians!”

“But see, that’s the point P. Gum! Once you go full candy elemental, you won’t  _ need _ those gumball whatsits!” said Patience.

Alright, that was enough. Marceline almost flew inside to intervene, but Bonnie beat her to it. She whipped out a huge green gun, cocked it, and pointed it at Patience.

“Beat it, Patience before I turn you into  _ particles _ !”

Patience grumbled. She stomped out of the lab and took off in the sky.

“I’ll get you to see one way or another!”

“We’ll see about  _ that _ !” said Bonnie.

Marceline laughed and floated back down on the bench. Hah. Stupid tranch. If Bonnie didn’t want to do something, it  _ wasn’t _ going to happen. Marceline knew that better than anyone. Patience could force-feed her terrible ideas to someone else. Marceline went back to plucking chords. Even though she never doubted Bonnie, what Patience said made her a tiny bit uneasy. She had to have  _ known _ Bonnie would say no, right? Hm. Whatever. They could handle anything that dillweed tried to cook up. Marceline kept trying to make herself believe this, but as the hours ticked by with no Bonnie in sight, she started to get worried. Sure, Peebs went crazy over science, but she would’ve at least sent Pep But or  _ someone _ to tell Marceline to forget it.

She swore she saw Patience come back and leave with Bonnie. Maybe she was seeing things or freaking out, but Marceline couldn’t imagine who else it would’ve been. Something was up. She floated high above the Candy Kingdom, trying to see if she missed anything. Nothing  _ looked _ out of the ordinary: cotton candy trees, Simon’s ice castle in the distance, candy people milling around. Marceline strained her eyes. She almost chalked it up to paranoia until a bright light caught her eye. Shoot! The sun! Already? Marceline almost dove for cover. No—it was a  _ white _ light. Huge.  _ Blinding _ . Holy Glob! Marceline shielded her face. The light came from—Simon’s Castle?

Did something happen to Simon? Before Marceline could even think about checking on him, the light turned into a huge blast and sent her hurtling back down to the Candy Kingdom. She smacked on the ground with a hard thud. Marceline groaned, double and triple-checking her bass to see if anything got smashed. Her bass was fine. Everything else though? Not so much. After the huge blast of light, a giant cloud of— _ something _ —maybe magic, rained down over all of Ooo from atop the icy mountain. Pink goo slurped up all the grass. Candy Kingdom citizens ran around screaming. The Gumball Guardians rose from their posts.

“EVIL PRESENCE DETECT—OH NO.”

The goo crept up the legs of the Gumball Guardians, turning them into—candy? They froze. Their fingertips turned into cinnamon, frosting shooting up their arms. It was happening to  _ everyone _ ! Somehow, the candy people became  _ more _ candy! Their legs, their arms, even their eyeballs all turned into candy canes, gumdrops, mints—it didn’t stop. The pink goo spread across all of Candy Kingdom territory. Then out of nowhere, all the citizens stopped screaming. Huge smiles appeared on their faces. They all started laughing hysterically.

Marceline could only watch in horror. What the  _ dip _ was happening? Candy continued spreading everywhere and four figures shot out in different directions from the ice mountain. Marceline could barely make out Patience, Slime Princess, Flame Princess, and—Bonnie. All of them disappeared into their own territories. Bonnie crashed through the castle, tearing through the cake walls. No! Marceline launched back into the air—and stopped. Goo crept up her leg, engulfing it up to her knee. Her foot transformed and turned into something soft, sweet, and white. A  _ marshmallow _ ? Marceline hissed. She used every bit of her demon strength and shook it off. While she fought the candy curse, a crash sounded from the castle.

An enormous wad of bubblegum exploded from the right-wing of the castle. It lunged towards the ground, latching onto it like a sticky web. More strings and piles of bubblegum shot out from the castle, blowing it to pieces. The gum engulfed the entire courtyard. Marceline’s heart dropped to her stomach.

“ _ Bonnie _ !”

Marceline shifted some wings— _ tried _ to at least. Her wings stuck to her back. Marceline glanced over and saw gooey marshmallow strands weighing them down. Argh! She had to get to Bonnie! Marceline roared, shaking off the toasty wings and sprouting new ones. She shot towards the growing pile of bubblegum. It all clumped together, mashing into an enormous mass. It grew taller and taller, more strands digging into the ground. The castle was completely obliterated, nothing but the tower of bubblegum in its place. Marceline flew as high as she could. She followed the mass, fighting tears and screams and the marshmallows determined to grow on her skin.

It wasn’t just the Candy Kingdom. As Marceline flew, she saw ice spreading from Simon’s mountain and hoped with all her heart Patience didn’t do some crazy magic mojo on  _ him _ too. Everything froze over, ice shards shooting up from the ground and forming into one, big ice block. Slime oozed over Slime Princess’s territory, engulfing every plant and building in sight. The Fire Kingdom’s territory burned to a crisp. Flames crowned across the land, blackening it and scorching everything nearby.

“Ugh! Get off me!”

Marceline shook off a fresh collection of marshmallows from her arm, just now realizing she forgot to set down her bass. Even  _ that _ started to change. It was shrinking, now almost as small as a banjo. She flew faster and harder. She had to reach Bonnie. She gritted her fangs. After what felt like forever, Marceline reached the top of the giant bubblegum tower. Her heart would’ve stopped if it already hadn’t a long time ago. The tower, all the gum everywhere, every single clump and strand— _ was _ Bonnie. Her face was embedded inside, all big and circular.

“Bonnie! It’s me! I’m here!”

The words came out half-hysterical. Marceline flew up to Bonnie, putting a free hand on her face. Bonnie’s eyes were wide with terror.

“Marcy! Your hands!”

Marceline glanced at them and sure enough, those dang marshmallows were back. She shook them off.

“I’m going to find that blue tranch! I’ll make her fix this!” said Marceline.

Bonnie stared at her, eyes now bigger than Marceline’s head. She watched a fresh collection of marshmallows engulf Marceline’s leg. Bonnie squeezed her eyes shut. When she opened them, she looked like she wanted to say a million things. All that came out was, “ _ Hurry _ !”

Marceline tried to keep herself from shaking uncontrollably. She fought back another scream, a sob, and the crushing fear in her chest.

“I’ll save you! I promise! Stay there!” she said.

Stupid,  _ stupid _ ! Bonnie  _ couldn’t _ move. She was a tower of  _ gum _ ! Keep it together Marceline…she just had to find Patience. She never flew so fast in her long life. She dared to look at her bass, which was still transforming. Marceline powered through every fresh marshmallow that popped up on her hands and feet. She pressed on, even as the chilly winds of the ice territory hit her in the face. Using all her strength, Marceline barreled through the wall of the giant ice block.

“Whoa, whoa hey! What the heck are you doing?” said Patience.

Marceline transformed into a huge werewolf and roared.

“Tell me how to fix Bonnie!”

“Buzz off vampire girl! She’s  _ already _ fixed!”

Marceline roared again so loud, the strings on her bass vibrated. Patience covered her ears.

“Ahhh! What  _ is _ that?”

She shrank away from Marceline. The bass? More like  _ half _ a bass now—but it gave Marceline an idea. She shrank back down to her size and played the loudest, most obnoxious chord she could think of. The sound rattled the icy walls.

“Ughhh no!” said Patience.

Marceline smirked. She sang at the top of her lungs.

“Hey blue tranch! I’ll give you one chance! To fix my friend or I’ll kick your pants!”

“Stoooop! I get migraines, seriously!”

Marceline played more aggressively.

“Lalalalalalalala!”

She chased Patience in circles around the ice block with Patience whining and covering her ears. Each chord vibrated throughout the room. For a half a bass, it still played a pretty sick tune!

“Kicks, kicks, kicks, take that and take this!”

Marceline sang even louder, played even harder. Patience screamed. She stomped her foot.

“Alright!  _ Alright _ ! Shut up for a second!”

Patience sprinted over to that stupid briefcase of hers and pulled out a small, glowing ball of energy. She held it out to Marceline.

“Here! Here! Are you happy now?”

Marceline stared at the ball of energy, suspicious.

“ _ This _ is the antidote?”

“Yes! Yes! It’s the antidote! The antidote of all antidotes! Now, will you please go away?”

Marceline gingerly took the little sphere. Patience watched her, eying the bass as if it’d come to life and start playing itself. Marceline didn’t notice before, but she saw that Patience had on a long dress made of ice which slowly sewed itself together. Strands of her hair turned snowy white and frost started to creep over her sunglasses.

“You know, it  _ really _ wasn’t supposed to go like this.”

All the spunk and pep left Patience’s voice. She sounded duller, more apathetic.

“Now get out of here, vampire girl.”

Marceline left without another word. She flew back the way she came with the bubblegum tower-- _ Bonnie _ looming in the distance. Marceline’s legs stuck together. More marshmallows. Marceline kicked her legs, but this time, the marshmallows didn’t budge turning into white, sticky skin. The lower half of her body started transforming into one, huge marshmallow. Every bit of her smelled like a freaking s’more. She was running out of time! Marceline clutched the little sphere. It would save Bonnie, right? Patience said it was the antidote.

Unless it wasn’t. She could’ve pulled anything out of that briefcase and said it was the antidote to make Marceline go away. It didn’t  _ look _ like much. It swirled in Marceline’s gloopy hand and wasn’t any bigger than a grape. Could this really save, Bonnie? Either way, Marceline had to try. She didn’t have any other ideas. It had to work. Marceline  _ needed  _ it to work. Bonnie couldn’t stay stuck like that as a huge blob of gum! She tried not to freak out as she floated up the tower of Bonnie now. Finn, Jake, and BMO weren’t in Ooo. Marceline tried to remember that. If this “antidote” didn’t work, maybe they could still save the day.

Unless they all got candified as soon as they got back too.

Marceline swallowed. This  _ had _ to work. She reached the top of the tower, the swirling sphere at the ready.

“Bonnie! I got it!”

Marceline hovered in front of the wad of bubblegum. Bonnie’s face reappeared.

“It’s the antidote! We just have to—”

“Oh hello, Marceline!”

No. Marceline floated in place, unable to move. Something was off. Bonnie’s voice sounded wrong. It was  _ her _ voice, but more cheerful,  _ eerily _ cheerful. It also was an octave higher, lacing every word with a sickly-sweet tone. She gave Marceline a big smile.

“I’m so glad you’re back! Now I can fix you too!” she said.

Marceline shook out of her daze.

“Fix  _ me _ ? Bonnie, listen to me! You have to—”

Marceline floated closer to Bonnie’s face, holding out the glowing sphere—the “antidote.” Her last hope. Bonnie just shook her enormous head.

“Poor Marceline. So sad and scared. But it’s all okay now. You’ll be all better soon, see?”

Marceline glanced down at her body. Her torso was made up of marshmallows. Every square inch of her was covered in marshmallows. There were even marshmallows forming in her  _ hair _ . She reeked of campfires. Her bass had finished its transformation, hanging in her right hand as a small banjo now. The swirling ball trembled in Marceline’s other hand. Her heart sank. Her stomach clenched. The image of Bonnie blurred with tears.

“Peebs—no—I’m here—to save you.”

“But don’t you understand, Marceline? I’m already saved! Everyone is! I’m more connected to the candy people than ever. Look how happy they all are!”

Marceline looked down at the candy citizens below who danced around near the bubblegum tower, laughing and singing. Bonnie smiled at Marceline again. Was she even still Bonnie? Was she the girl Marceline couldn’t stop thinking about? The one she never got over? The one she told silly stories to in the middle of the night after she hovered through her window? Bonnie reached down, sprouting an enormous hand, and swatted the sphere away. Marceline watched as it rolled and tumbled off the tower. She made no move to catch it. She didn’t care anymore.

“You can be connected to me too, you know. Come on. Be happy with everyone. You can’t go on being all sad like this!”

Marceline shook, tears streaming down her cheeks. She tried to wipe them away, but her hand smeared marshmallow across her face. She sunk down onto the bubblegum tower and looked up at Bonnie. Devastation crashed over her. Bonnie? Or the Candy Elemental? Did it matter anymore? Marceline opened her mouth. She wanted to say a whole speech, but she didn’t have it in her. All that came out was a sad and soft, “I’m sorry.”

Bonnie…the Candy Elemental…just laughed.

“There’s nothing to be sorry about! You won’t be sorry ever again!”

That was that. Marceline lowered the last of her defenses. The marshmallows engulfed her hair, her neck, her face. She wondered if she  _ would _ be happier as a marshmallow. Maybe it was better this way. Anything was better than knowing she failed. Marceline should’ve told Bonnie, the  _ real _ Bonnie, how she felt. Maybe it would’ve made a difference. Marceline opened her mouth to say the words she meant to say centuries ago, even a few years ago in front of that magic door. But no words came out. The marshmallows consumed her. Marceline shut her eyes and let them.

She woke up giddy. Every bit of her bubbled with happiness. She could sing and do a jig. She wanted to laugh. She could do cartwheels in the air. Something tugged at her marshmallow heart like she was in the middle of a mission or she needed to finish a task. Hmm. Loss? Nah. Whatever it was, it melted away in seconds. She floated up to the princess and smiled. The princess smiled back.

“There we go! Hello Marshmaline! Are you feeling better?”

Marshmaline laughed.

“Loads better, princess!”

She looped her banjo in front of her.

“Let’s sing a song!” 


End file.
